drowning, drowning

DROWNING, DROWNING is the story of a young girl who dives into the sea. make your way through the kelp forests and meet the friendly residents of an underwater city... but were you really invited here just for fun? or was there some deeper reason...?

a full playthrough takes about an hour. there is one main ending.

this game is intended for all ages, but the ending does contain horror elements and may be stressful for some players. please take care of yourselves!

Thank you so much for creating this :) I really enjoyed playing it & like how you left the circumstances surrounding Maia open to the player's interpretation. I think you managed the "show, don't tell" aspect well!

Also, thank you for sharing about the development process of this game - I can see you put a lot of effort into your games and your story about burnout/feeling guilty resonated with me. Hope you're feeling much better now and looking forward to your future games (no stress tho & take care!) ^^

This game is beautiful, just like all the rest that you've made. I always really enjoy the game that you create, and the symbolizim behind them. I hope you keep going with this, and that you have a great day. :)

You've got a knack for making really loveable characters without telling us too much about them. You showed us just enough of Maia's feelings about her life in the human world (or above water anyway, not sure if this takes place in the same world as your other games so maybe I can't call it the human world), that we can easily fill in the blanks as to what she's been through - it hits close to home without getting dark (though the subtext is pretty dark), which is a tough balance to hit, and I think you nailed it.

I totally understand all the people saying they want more of this. These characters are good, but I think it also stands on its own. Good stuff. Really enjoyed it.

This game was absolutely adorable~! I love it so much. I was crying and laughing and yelling...you sent me on a emotional mini-coaster. Thank you so much for making this game, and I look forward to more of your works!

One thing I really appreciate in this game is the small details that bring the world and characters more into life. An example of this would be examining objects Cilo's home and Am's home shows a bit more detail about what their habits and personalities are like, which helps flesh them out more as characters! There's a couple more examples of this but I won't spoil for those who want to see for themselves. :)

I made a video with my commentary and experiences. Keep up the great work!

I really love your games, Nami. I will say though this one left me wanting for a bit more, and not really in an entirely positive way.

Spoilers ahead in case you haven't played the game:

I felt like Maia's conflict was under-explored and felt like it came suddenly. Her earlier actions (or possible inaction's) being accompanied with relatively little dialogue, and not much facial expression. Even something like allowing her to ignore Am when she's stuck or lie to Am and Melite, led me to think she didn't really care actually. I thought she was just going with the flow. Even her simple "Okay" response to Clio felt very curt. So when she leaves the sea for the first time and starts breaking up over leaving her new friends, I was a bit, confused.

Regardless I was excited for the development since it potentially gave a new depth to her character. It seemed serious too, so I was curious to learn more about Maia and her problems! Maia really looks like a character with a history based on the hints she gives to Am when she leaves the first time. Her comment about "surviving up here," is just, very implicative. Then I felt like that never really happened, we find out a bit more of her doubts in the deep sea, but we don't find out why she has them, and considering she was potentially willing to throw her own life away in the depths, I thought that was important.

I feel it may have helped to see a bit more of her internal thoughts, or to explore her feelings and past a bit more through the other characters, who she doesn't really ever open up to? Even when Clio confronts her about the party Maia doesn't talk about herself much.

Finally, I felt there could've been a bit more development between the core 3 characters. Maia and Am never really interact outside Am leading her around a bit, and while Clio does have a couple moments with Maia I didn't feel their relationship really developed. I would've liked to really just see more of them together, maybe another day even. One where they actually just hang out, talk a bit more, maybe they play hide and seek for real in the kelp. I think that alone would've made the payoff a bit weightier.

I hope this isn't too negative, I just genuinely like your work a lot, and even if these were very personal thoughts and not objective facts, I figured I'd share. Looking forward to whatever you make next.

thank you for the honest feedback! i think you're right in that i left too much up to the imagination... specifically with the reason maia wants to stay underwater--i decided not to specify the details because i thought the exact reasons aren't necessarily what matters? just her feelings about it. i left it up to people to fill in the blanks with whatever made sense to them based on what was presented (like in the trench) BUT it seems like that approach doesn't work for everyone...

the response i hear over and over with my games is that people want to see more, so i think i just need to work harder to make sure i put in enough by the end. i'll definitely keep this stuff in mind for the next one. thank you for playing, and for taking the time to write all this!